Wild Horses and All That Surrounds Them

See Flax. See Flax Run. See Flax Go Down Like a Box of Rocks.

This is Flax. Handsome fella, isn’t he?

And this is Fermat and his colorful group of ladies. Fermat is the dark bay all the way to the right.

His lead mare Taylor (the strawberry roan in front) has been pretty skittish post-roundup, so I was a ridge over when I took these. It’s not ideal with a 300mm lens, but I’m lucky to be able to go out there at all, so don’t think for a second I’m complaining!

Here’s a closer shot of Taylor and her colt, Maclaurin. I was realy surprised they were willing to run past me since they generally run away the second they see me. Surprised by thankful.

Flax took quick notice of Fermat’s very lovely ladies. Consequently, so did Han. It is pretty common to see a bachelor stallion laying claim on a band, stalking the group and taking out any potential rivals in the process. It’s classic high school drama, really. “I know she’s not mine yet, but she’s going to be so back off!”

Since wild horses have the maturity of 16 year old boys, Han had strong opinions about Flax cutting in on his future turf. It seems fair. What stallion wouldn’t want a mare or two like that? There are not many mares to go around in White Mountain and I have to respect a stallion with goals. Shoot for the stars, Han!

Back to the story: The short version is that Han came at Flax like the fist of an angry deity. It went down a little something like this…

Running along, singing a mery tune

Han makes his feelings clear, but Flax is feeling confident and maybe just a little cocky.

Flax is feeling considerably less cocky by this point.

Perhaps Timber would have been a more appropriate name for Flax?

And Flax goes down like a 2 Ton bag of fail!bricks

Han meanwhile has no understanding that it is rude to kick a fellow horse then they’re down

Flax gets up in a hurry. It was no easy feat with Han’s hooves of fury bearing down on him, but I suppose said hooves were also a great incentive to get moving.

It briefly seemed like Flax was going to give it another go, but he wisely turned tail and took off.

I saw Flax again later that day. He seemed to shake off his earlier activities entirely. It is one of the many things that I love about horses – their attention span is even shorter than my own!

Looks like the only thing he injured was his pride (if that)

Sorrels with flaxen manes and blazes are very common in White Mountain. You can always tell which one is Flax by looking for the awful scar on the left side of his bum.

Flax was headed to water but he ran into Vime’s band instead. Now poor Vimes already has a lot on his plate. He has been dogged by another stallion for some time. While Vimes still had all of his mares at the time of these photos, you can tell that he is beat up and worn down from the constant fighting. Vime’s nerves were also pretty fried, so he did not have any patience for Flax.

“We bow to each other, Flax, Come, the niceties must be observed”BAM! A Harry Potter quote made it into a post that mentions a horse named after Terry Pratchet character and Math nerd references. That’s right, baby. I’m on nerd fire tonight!

Flax wisely gets the heck out of there as fast as he can.

There is a happy ending, though. Flax met up with a buddy who did not feel the need to posture or kick Flax around.

This is not to say that everything was sunshine and wildflowers. Flax was pretty happy, but he left an opening for the persistent thorn in Vime’s side – the bachelor stallion Dragon. That, however, is a story for another night.

Okay, fine. I’ll give you a quick teaser.

This is Dragon. Like the mythical creatures he is named for, this stallion is one powerful guy.

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